With the development and adoption of wireless communication technologies, consumer and business products are becoming increasingly “unwired”. For example, Wi-Fi Access Points (APs) and products that are Wi-Fi Certified® now reside in homes, businesses, and public locations. The vast number of Wi-Fi networks is a driving factor for increased penetration of Wi-Fi into consumer electronic (CE) devices and mobile handsets and the increasing adoption of Wi-Fi in devices beyond computers and APs enables new usage models for users. One usage model based on Wi-Fi adoption enables different consumer electronic devices to share, display, print, and synchronize content in an easy and convenient manner. These usage scenarios have driven the need for peer-to-peer connectivity.
In response to peer-to-peer usage models, a task group known as “Wi-Fi Alliance” is developing a new standard called Wi-Fi Direct (also known as Wi-Fi P2P) to allow CE devices and mobile handsets to connect to each other in an ad hoc and peer-to-peer (P2P) manner. The Wi-Fi Direct specification outlines the operations in a P2P group and specifies various rules and procedures for power-save operations at the group owner and the clients. In a legacy Wi-Fi architecture, the AP does not perform power-save operations, whereas in the P2P environment the P2P group owner is to have power consumption similar to that of the P2P clients. This requirement is based on the assumption that the P2P group owner is also a CE device or mobile handset that primarily runs on limited battery supply. Efforts to reduce power consumption for P2P group devices or other wireless communication devices are ongoing.